The Great Gatsby to Open Cannes Film Festival

It has been announced today that Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby will open the 66th Cannes Film Festival, which will run May 15-24th.

Adapted from the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, the film follows the tragic figure Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he tried to re ignite a romance with Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), who is married to Tom (Joel Edgerton), during the Roaring Twenties. Rapper Jay-Z scored the movie.

“It’s a great honour for all those who have worked on The Great Gatsby to open the Cannes Film Festival,” said Luhrmann, who has twice been honoured by the festival for Strictly Ballroom (Un Certain Regard in 1992) and Moulin Rouge! (Festival opening in 2001). “We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film, Strictly Ballroom, was screened there 21 years ago, but also because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just short distance away at a villa outside St Raphael.”

The film will open in 2D and 3D formats May 10th in the US, 4 days before its premiere in Cannes.